During various types of processes, such as manufacturing or assembling articles, it is often necessary to orient and/or singulate the articles to facilitate automated feed into associated processing equipment. In particular, rotary feeders are known which use centrifugal force to create a series or stream of singulated articles. Typically, a bulk volume of articles are placed in the rotary feeder, which then acts to singulate and/or orientate the articles as they are supplied to associated equipment or the like, with the articles arranged into a sequential stream where all of the articles are typically arranged in a single orientation. This type of technology is typically employed in automated processes, where relatively higher throughput is required. Conventional rotary feeders are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,578,699; 5,145,051; and 4,429,808.
A typical rotary feeder has two primary components: a bowl assembly and a feed disc assembly. The bowl assembly includes a bowl defining a reservoir for holding a plurality of articles and an out-turned flange onto which each article is to be transferred. The bowl is typically rotatable about a substantially vertical bowl axis. The feed disc assembly includes a feed disc disposed inside the bowl at an inclined angle to define a lower portion positioned near a bottom of the bowl and an upper portion positioned near the out-turned flange. The feed disk is rotated so that it engages individual articles disposed inside the bowl and transports them, via centrifugal force, up the inclined angle to out-turned flange. The bowl assembly may also be rotated to advance articles deposited onto the out-turned flange to a discharge point, where the articles are further processed by other machinery.
While the previously known rotary feeders are generally suitable for creating a series of singulated articles, it is overly difficult or impossible to adjust the disc for use with articles of different geometries or sizes. Some rotary feeders have a feed disc that is fixed at a single incline angle, and therefore is suitable only for certain types of articles or operations. Other rotary feeders are known which allow adjustment of the feed disc incline angle, but allow such adjustment only by moving the entire shaft to which the feed disc is coupled, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,960,293 and 3,702,663. Adjustment of the entire feed disc shaft is not only overly difficult, but also complicates coupling of the shaft to a drive for rotating the shaft.
In addition, conventional rotary feeders are overly difficult to assembly for custom article sizes and to maintain sufficient tolerances between components. In known feeders, the bowl is typically formed with the desired out-turned flange and then is subsequently mounted on a support frame. The flange must be sized not only to properly support the particular articles being processed, but must also cooperate with surrounding structures such as a guide fence and discharge point positioned about a perimeter of the bowl, and therefore close tolerances between these parts must be maintained. With conventional rotary feeders, the bowl is typically a custom fabricated item and therefore can be overly expensive. In addition, formation of the out-turned flange prior to assembly may result in unintended and possibly unacceptable gaps between the bowl and surrounding structures.